The government on Wednesday approved the release of the 20th installment electoral bond Which will open for sale from April 1 to 10.
electoral bonds In an effort to bring transparency in political donations, cash donations to political parties have been introduced as an alternative. However, opposition parties have been raising concerns about alleged ambiguity in funding through such bonds.
“The State Bank of India (SBI) has been authorized to issue and encash Electoral Bonds through its 29 authorized branches in the 20th phase of sale from April 1 to April 10, 2022,” the Finance Ministry said in a statement.
SBI has 29 designated branches in cities like Lucknow, Shimla, Dehradun Kolkata, Guwahati, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Patna, New Delhi, Chandigarh, Srinagar, Gandhinagar, Bhopal. Raipurand Mumbai.
As per the provisions of the scheme, electoral bonds can be purchased by any Indian citizen or entities incorporated or established in the country. Registered political parties which secured at least 1 per cent votes in the last Lok Sabha or Vidhan Sabha elections are eligible to obtain electoral bonds.
Assembly elections are due in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh later this year, while elections for five states – Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Goa – were held earlier this month.
The 19th tranche of the bond sale took place from January 1 to January 10, 2022. The sale of the first batch of electoral bonds took place from March 1-10, 2018.
SBI is the only authorized bank to issue such bonds.
The electoral bond will be valid for 15 days from the date of issue. According to the statement, no payment will be made to any political party on submission of the bond after the expiry of the validity period.
The bond deposited in its account by any eligible political party shall be credited on the same day.